The stock market is becoming fond of Linux
The people are curious about what makes Tux the penguin more popular by the day. Every day, I hear about and help new Linux converts through a variety of mediums. Some businesses are even switching to Linux to reduce costs for software licensing (and most recently energy consumption), while others are switching for the convenience of controlling the coffee pot at the edge of their desk with their computer (yes, this has been done before!) or for the thrill of learning something new. Now, even large business firms that operate as part of the New York Stock Exchange are buying into the idea of going open source.
A good number of firms have already welcomed Linux with open arms. The remaining firms that are yet to do so are concerned that licensing issues (of which there are none in Linux other than being required to submit changes to source code back to the open source community) and support will make it more trouble than it's worth. The Linux providers' response? "There's no problem, jump right in! The water's just fine!" (paraphrased). In fact, Red Hat and Novell (the company that develops and maintains SUSE Linux) have developed RTL (Real Time Linux) systems that specifically meet the needs of the fast and furious stock market where time could mean the difference between a million dollars or a billion dollars from a single transaction. When asked about the feasibility of using Linux in the marketplace, Novell's senior vice president and general manager of open platform solutions said that "there's a strong business case for Linux as an alternative to Microsoft or [other] Unix derivatives." Some people probably think that he's just saying that because he's paid to say that, but let's look at a few key differences between Linux and Windows and determine whether there really is a strong business case:
| Category | Windows | Linux |
| System Uptime | Restart usually required to keep computer running at optimum efficiency or after installing/uninstalling an application | Restart only required when updating the system kernel |
| Application Management | Can only install/uninstall one application at a time, not every application installer provides for dependencies | Can install/remove multiple applications at the same time and dependency issues are resolved automatically |
| System Security | Can log in directly as an administrator, granting permission to modify or delete critical system files to anyone with such a status | Cannot log in as an administrator via graphical interface, forcing everyone to have a normal user account with minimal permissions |
| Licensing | Most commonly used software (including the operating system itself) must be paid for when first acquired and then again to upgrade to a new version | Open source, majority of distributions are entirely free (operating system and all packages (applications, libraries, runtime environments, etc.)) |
Based on this nonexhaustive list, time, money, and security advantages all seem to point to Linux as the better choice. Granted, it's not always as user friendly as Windows, but that's not stopping Wall Street, where the TABB Group estimates that 72% of computers in the fourteen biggest investment firms in the United States will have a Linux installation by the end of the year.
Watch out Microsoft. Linux is slowly but surely taking over...
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